Conventional slot machines include a plurality of symbol-bearing reels that are rotated and stopped to place the symbols of each reel in visual association with one or more pay lines. Although some of these machines now simulate the reels using images on a video screen, many slot machines still employ mechanical reels. Each mechanical reel is mounted to the rotatable shaft of a stepper motor under the control of a central processing unit (CPU). The CPU includes reel driver software that monitors the reel and controls its positioning. This requires the CPU to sample the state of each reel in real time. The CPU must read the status of each reel hundreds of times per second, perform calculations, and respond with control commands. Because the CPU must perform a variety of other tasks, its overall performance is diminished by having to perform low-level reel driver operations in addition to these other tasks.